Based
on the diary of his 15 year old wife Grace, this book presents the
factual and heretofore unknown side of one of America's greatest
magicians - HOWARD THURSTON

The early years that shaped THURSTON
THE GREAT are recounted in vivid detail as Grace Thurston (the first of
Howard's four wives) writes about their poverty, Howard's bouts with
the law and subsequent jailing, the origin and story of Thurston's
famous "Rising Cards," the Herrmann encounter, their covered wagon tour
of the early West, the sleazy saloons and honky-tonks, their trip to
Europe, success on the Continent, the building of the "big show," and
the mental and physical abuse that spanned their years of marriage.

Now,
20 years after its original paperback publication as the "Thurston
Scrapbook - Grace Thurston Manuscript," a new, hard bound, 190 page
edited edition of the fascinating, revealing and human story of Howard
Thurston's early years has been typeset and photo enhanced - with an additional 20 pages of the 1953 transcribed taped interviews with Charles Holzmueller, Thurston's mechanic from his 1905-07 World Tour.